Duke crushes Pitt in ACC Tournament quarterfinal

Jeff Capel’s hand has been on the heartbeat of his team all season. He knew how his players would react to success and failure, and they seldom disappointed or surprised him.

For a two-hour period Thursday in Greensboro (N.C.) Coliseum, Pitt was not that team Capel had been guiding and admiring all season. Duke (24-8) led from start to finish and thoroughly dominated the Panthers, 96-69, in an ACC Tournament quarterfinal.

From the first 3½ minutes — when the Blue Devils jumped to a 12-0 lead — the outcome never was in doubt.

It’s now Capel’s task to determine if the poor showing by his team was because of Duke’s talent or his players’ inability to fight back. Most likely, Pitt was stung by large doses of both.

“I just thought for the first time in a really, really long time, we got knocked back and did not respond,” Capel said. “Disappointed in that, but we played against an outstanding team that really, really played at a high level.

“I’m surprised. I thought we put our heads down, and we didn’t (respond), collectively, as a group. Individually some guys did. That’s been the hallmark of our team all season since after the fourth game of the year. For whatever reason, we didn’t do that, and they made us pay for it because they are really talented.”

Capel said the gameplan was to crowd the lane to prevent a repeat of the Jan. 11 game in Cameron Indoor Stadium. On that night, the Blue Devils grabbed 24 offensive rebounds and won 77-69 after trailing by 11 at halftime.

“The thing that they hadn’t done in the last four or five games is shoot the ball well from 3,” Capel said.

This time, Duke’s 7-foot freshman center Kyle Filipowski hit two 3-pointers in the first 63 seconds. He appeared able to do anything he wanted, and he finished with a game-high 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting, including 4 of 6 3-pointers.

With the Pitt defense packed inside, Duke shot 42.3% from beyond the arc (11 of 26), but its success rate from long range hit 50% earlier in the second half.

“They made us pay,” Capel said. “They are the hottest team in the league.”

Filipowski, who has scored 50 points in two games against Pitt, played only 15 minutes after turning an ankle early. He returned, but his absence didn’t matter. Duke found enough scoring punch from Filipowski’s three freshman classmates. Dereck Lively added 13 points, Mark Mitchell 12 and Tyrese Proctor 11.

“We think we’re at our peak right now, and it’s showing,” Mitchell said on ESPN. “I think we’re just jelling right now. We’re playing together, sharing the ball. When we do that, I don’t think many teams can beat us.”

That theory will be tested Friday night when Duke meets top-seeded Miami (25-6) in an ACC Tournament semifinal.

Duke led 48-32 at halftime, and its advantage quickly grew to 66-37 lead within the first five minutes of the second half. With six minutes to play, Duke had made 68% of its shots (34 of 50).

No Duke starter played more than 26 minutes, but the Blue Devils still set an ACC Tournament record with 27 assists on 36 made baskets.

“They are not freshmen anymore,” Capel said. “They understand college basketball now. They’ve been through some tough times. They’ve had their noses rubbed in crap, and they’ve stayed together and responded.

“They had a game like this at Miami (an 81-59 loss Feb. 6). They could have easily put their head down, but they came back and they fought and they got better.

“We had this happen to us early in the year (a 1-3 start), and we fought and we got better. My hope is that as we enter the final part of our season, we’ll use this, and we’ll get better. Fortunately, we do have another part of our season. That’s something we’ll be excited about, but (Thursday) was not good.”

Pitt’s worthiness for the school’s first NCAA Tournament berth since 2016 is a matter of opinion until the committee releases the at-large bids Sunday. Capel believes the Panthers (22-11) deserve one, but Pitt has lost four of its past seven games and is 0-4 away from Petersen Events Center since Feb. 11.

Pitt never found a rhythm on offense. Nike Sibande and Guillermo Diaz Graham scored 17 and 14 points off the bench, and Jamarius Burton added 13. Starters Nelly Cummings, Blake Hinson and Greg Elliott, who had been instrumental in carrying Pitt into first place in the ACC late in the season, totaled 11 points among them while hitting 3 of 13 shots. Federiko Federiko played only 12 minutes and scored four points after tweaking his knee in Wednesday’s game, Capel said.

“Their defense forced us out of some things that we’ve normally been able to get,” Capel said. “They’re really tall, and they have great length at every position. We had some shots. We missed some early, and then they made everything early, and I think that just knocked us completely back.”

Burton said the ending to this season is yet to be determined.

“We’ve got more basketball to play, and we’ve still got an opportunity to continue to write our story,” he said. “And that’s the biggest thing moving forward is just taking what we can learn from this experience and move forward in the right direction.”